we need to have a strong figure coordinating the pentagon. and the tactics that you see mccain and the republicans engaging in clearly undermine the next secretary of defense who they all acknowledge is going to be chuck hagel. the other issue, don, is politics in the context of political preservation. lindsey graham is posturing himself because he's afraid of a tea party challenge for renomination to the senate. john cornyn is afraid of being out-conservatived by his junior senator in texas. >> let's talk about the state of the union. the president covered a lot of ground from minimum wage to pre-kindergarten. any angle you think he overlooked? >> every state of the union and this one is no exception comes across as a laundry list or a campaign speech. what made this one significant and made it stand out in my mind was i think it was the strongest explanation of why family value values -- why the government can help with family values and help rebuild our economy. the president's talk about preschool education, which is only available for on